Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1887-04-20
NEW YORK EVICTIONS.
TWENTY THOUSAND FAMILIES Dis
POSSESSED IN THE CITY IN 1886.

POSSESSED IN THE CITY IN 1886.
The Item of Rent Out of Proportion to
. Poor Mans Income-What Becomes
makers.
If the number of families in New York
which hire their rooms from month to
month be taken to be between 15O, 900 and
| 175 900, then over one-tenth of these fam
| flies have been turned out of their homes
during the year The records of the eleven
district courts prove it. Four district
courts alone will show that they have
issued some 10000 dispossess summonses,
each one of which was notice to family
to pay up or go.
To say that there were some 20, 600 fam
lilies driven out Of their homes last year
carries only part Of the meaning The
average number of persons in those poor
families is greater than in rich or well-to-
do families. 1t is a fair estimate to say
that in those 10000 families there were
12O, 600 men, women and children, most
of whom were unable to earn a sufficient
living The item of rent was great one
with them, out Of proportion to what it is
to man with moderate income. A
labOrer earning 81 day, or 500 a month,
has to pay from $6.5 to $40 rent, or over
a third of his income, while a working
man who gets $3.50 a day will not pay
over S1S a month rent. With q majority
Of those 10000 families the rent was more
than they could bear and they succumbed.
The head of the family may have been
sick, on a spree or out of work. The
family could economic in food, fuel and
clothing, but they lived in the cheapest
tenements already and the rent forced
them out 1t is puzzle where they go.
UNDER THE LAW.
The dispossess proceedings in the courts
do not by any means give the full number
of families who are forced from their
homes by various reasons. Under the law
the landlord must give notice to their ten
ants first, and thousands of tenants, know
ing that to disregard the notice will only
bring forcible eviction, sell or cast away
their furniture, and wander out into the
city at once On the money obtained
from the sale of their furniture they may
live a while, and then nobody notices how
they are swallowed up.
Of course there is another side to it
eyaders, who take advantages of the tech
nicalities of the law, the leniency of the
justices to the poor and the multitude of
worthy cases, to escape paying rent when
they could if they would. When a tenant
hires from month to month he can hold
over for another month if not notified to
go five days before the first day of the
next month. Otherwise he can hold on,
on bn yar,fS hU ha no hD1J
for another year. Or if he is behind in his
rent he can make the landlord prove
ownership, previous notice, specific con-
tract and violation of it before he can be
forcibly elected. 1t is not easy for the
landlord to do all this if the tenant chooses
to fight.
Notwithstanding the general impression,
drunkenness and shiftlessness in themselves |
are not the immediate cause of many evic- |
tons. A mans drunkenness may cause |
him to lose his place, and then, without |
work, he has no income, but as long us he |
works his wife usually manages to get |
enough of his pay to pay the rent. Lack |
Of work and sickness or death in the family |
are the main causes of falling behind in |
the rent. The family get so far behind in |
their rent that it is next to impossible to |
can of their furniture, and start over again |
in a new neighborhood. If the father gets |
work then and is in good health he may
regain home. If he doesn't, his family |
breaks up, and he may become a tramp, a |
criminal or pauper.
JUSTICES AS PEACEMAKERS.
As a rule, the civil justices try to act as
between the landlord and
tenant Where the tenant is able to pay
they usually succeed In all cases they
give the tenant time, and try TO prevent
forcible election by the marshals In not
over quarter of the cases is it necessary to
call in the assistance of a marshal to get
the tenant out. Attached to several of the
district courts is a charitable organization.
In extreme cases the justices and clerks at
the court chip in to pay the rent.
Several of the justices talked about their
with eviction cases They are
much alike. The following from Justice
speaks for the other east side
There We're some $500 dispossess pro-
ceedings in the Fifth district court this
year. In not over a third of them was
forcible action taken. In the others the
tenants moved as soon as they saw it was
IieNltdDle- IuTee-QlaTterS OF the cases |
were tor arrears in rent The others were
where the landlord had given the tenant
notice to leave at the end of the month
and the tenant had not left. Some of the
cases are professionals They come I'D
several times year. They would rather
move than pay rent, even though they are
able to. They get in arrears and hang on
ill the last moment, when they pack up
and move.
"Most of the cases are Irishmen and
Jews. Native Americans are rarest and
Germans next. Jews do not always 60
IN summons, but they often fight the
,ase in court, and cause the landlord a lot
If trouble to prove his side. Jews are I
good pay, but litigous. Many of them
AVE picked up a good knowledge of the
aw, and conduct their own cases admir-
IDLY. l do not know where the evicted
enants go, but probably to cheaper quar-
ers We look after all that we can. and
'ften we raise the money among ourselves :
o pay the rent. Sometimes we are i'm ,
POSED on, too. New York Sun.
Jamaica's Laboring Population.
The island of Jamaica is suffering in
consequence Of thp withdrawal Of Iorr,